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KANSAS STATE TEACHERS' 
ASSOCIATION 



Adopted Report 

OF 

Committee on Resolutions 



Supt. W. S. Heusner, Junction City, Chairman. 
Dean O. G. Markham, Baldwin. 
County Supt. Etta Joe McCoy, Ottawa. 
Prof. E. L. Holton, Manhattan.. 
Supt. E. B. Gift, Alma. 
Hon. H. S. Martin, Marion. 

Committee. 



Fiftieth Annual Session, 

Topeka, November 7 and 8, 

1912. 



President, H. J. Waters, 
State Agricultural College, Manhattan. 



STATE PRINTING OFFICE, 
TOPEKA, 1912. 



CopM, 2- 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/adoptedreportofcOOkans 



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Resolutions Adopted by 
The Kansas State Teachers' Association; 

November 7, 8, 1912. 

For fifty years Kansas has been the parliament for 
the discussion of great public questions. Numerous 
reforms and movements in behalf of freedom and in- 1 
telligence have originated on her consecrated soil. The 
character of her pioneers, with their invincible zeal 
and lofty purpose, insured her a high vantage ground. 
Men of action saw her star and followed it. Thus the 
stream of immigration has brought to her the best 
blood, spirit and intelligence of the older states. To 
depart from tradition, and to solve questions by dis^ 
cussion and reason, has distinguished her from her 
more conservative sister states. Education was her 
birthright. With a good model for her educational 
system, she has spared neither thought nor effort to 
keep her schools abreast of the times. Almost coinci- 
dent with the admission of the state was issued a call 
for a State Teachers' Association. At a time when 
grim war overshadowed the land and all the forces of 
demolition were threatening the young state, thirty- 
four teachers met at Leavenworth, Kan., September 29, 
1863, and founded the Kansas State Teachers' Associa- 
tion, which is now fifty years old. One of the distin- 
guished charter members of this Association, Mr. R. K. 
McCartney, has given us kindly counsel through this 
half century of progress, and at this meeting inspires 
and honors us with his presence. 

As we look back over these fifty years of history We 
may well exclaim: "Behold, what hath God wrought!" 
— the infant war-ridden state freed from her burden 
and a leader in peace and progress ; the 705 school dis- 
tricts increased to 8726; her school population iri- 

(3) 



creased from 24,500 to more than half a million; her 
little band of 732 teachers grown to a great army of 
14,103. 

We look back upon the work of fifty efficient and 
valuable State Associations; three territorial and six- 
teen state superintendents, marking the course of our 
progress with wise guidance ; the three denominational 
schools increased to almost forty, all flourishing and 
praiseworthy in their great work ; the state institutions 
of learning multiplied in number from a single build- 
ing or two to great cities of stone or brick, with an 
aggregate enrollment of 8000, and their courses of 
study and instruction reaching out to and supporting 
every interest of the state; her high schools growing 
from a rude beginning into the hundreds, and offering 
the best known training and advantages to the young 
people of city, town and village; more than 100 normal- 
training schools for teachers, and domestic science and 
manual training offered in many cities; the rural 
schools dotting the hills and valleys in every part of 
the state, rising slowly but steadily towards the ideal; 
the physical welfare of pupils guarded ; teachers better 
qualified and buildings better equipped ; school laws and 
regulations modified to meet the best ideals of the age ; 
some significant and hopeful steps in consolidation of 
rural schools ; compulsory attendance ; truancy law ; ex- 
tension of the course of study to meet modern needs; 
state aid for weak districts; longer terms of schools; 
increased salaries for teachers — all this and much more. 

To us who are here to enjoy this great meeting and 
commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of this Associa- 
tion, this progress has been gratifying and marvelous. 
Facing the responsibility of this heritage, we pledge 
ourselves to the highest endeavor in the cause of edu- 
cation and offer the following declaration: 

L Aim of Education. 

We wish to record our approval of the increasing apprecia- 
tion among teachers of the fact that the building of character is 
the real aim of the schools and the ultimate reason for the vast 



expenditures for their maintenance. We, therefore, commend 
every effort of parents and teachers to develop in the youth of 
our state a high regard for constituted authority, respect for 
age and superior wisdom, obedience to the demands of duty and 
reverence for things divine. 

II. Teaching Sex Hygiene and Temperance. 

We note with satisfaction that there has begun in the high 
school a wholesome and, we believe, an effective agitation for 
instruction in matters of sex hygiene. We urge that teacher? 
take up this delicate but vital question, and by careful and sys- 
tematic instruction help to reduce suffering and mental dis- 
turbances, as well as to increase the strength and vitality of the 
next generation. In beginning this instruction, we can not urge 
too strongly the cooperation of the home and the school. The 
home must clearly understand the attitude of the school and its 
motive if this instruction is effective. 

We believe that the work of temperance will be greatly ad- 
vanced when parent and pupil understand the evil effects of 
alcohol upon the vital physiological processes governing repro- 
duction. While the temperance movement is advancing by 
strides, we feel that there should be renewed diligence in in- 
struction dealing with the deadening effects of alcohol and to- 
bacco upon the nervous system of the immature boy. We regret 
that the. very excellent anticigarette law has in many places 
become almost a dead letter because its violation is countenanced 
by both teacher and parent. 

Therefore, we urge a systematic instruction of sex hygiene. 
a renewal of instruction concerning the effects of alcohol and 
tobacco, and a more rigid enforcement of the anticigarette law 

III. Peace Movement. 

We believe that the forces of this world should be organized 
and operated in the interests of peace and not in the interests 
of war. We believe that the material, commercial and social 
interests of our people, as well as the interests of the whole 
world, demand that the energies of governments and of peoplt 
be devoted to the constructive and helpful pursuits of peace, and 
that the people be relieved of the burdens resulting from the 
enormous expense of providing the armaments demanded by 
competition for supremacy in war. We further believe that the 
fear of war and the possibility of war would alike decline if the 
government were to rely more upon the sentiments of the people 
and less upon the strength of their armies and navies. We. 
accordingly, rejoice in the leadership of our country in the 
cause of international peace, and pledge our best endeavors to 



6 

promote the sentiments of peace in the work of instruction in 
our schools. 

IV. SCHOOLHOUSES AS SOCIAL AND CIVIC CENTERS. 

We believe that the nation-wide movement to make the school- 
house the social and civic center for neighborhood life has in it 
much to be commended. The logical place for voting and for 
all neighborhood meetings is the schoolhouse. The church build- 
ings and the lodge halls belong to a selected group, while the 
schoolhouse belongs to all the people of the community. 

We recommend the passage of a law, similar to the Wisconsin 
law, that will legalize the use of the schoolhouses of Kansas for 
all neighborhood meetings. 

V. Vocational Education. 

It is within the province of public high schools to train for 
vocational efficiency that large" majority of young men and 
young women who do not go to college. With this end in view, 
we recommend the following: 

1. That agricultural, industrial, home economics and com- 
mercial departments be established in the high schools of the 
state. 

2. That the controlling purpose in the organization of the 
courses of study for these departments shall be vocational effi- 
ciency, designed to meet the vocational needs of the respective 
communities. 

3. That each of these departments shall be under the direc- 
tion of trained specialists and not made incidental to the work 
of some other department. 

4. That cooperative and continuation courses be established 
for that large group of young men and young women who are 
compelled to spend the larger part of their time in productive 
work. 

5. That state aid to the amount of one-half of the salaries of 
the teachers of vocational subjects be granted to those high 
schools maintaining vocational departments, provided such de- 
partment has been accredited by the state department of educa- 
tion. 

VI. Traveling Library Visitor. 

We believe that educational progress will be furthered by the 
extension of library facilities through centralized official state 
advice and visitation; therefore, we heartily indorse the move- 
ment of the Kansas Library Association in asking the legisla- 
ture to authorize the Kansas Traveling Library Commission to 
employ a traveling library visitor to visit and organize libraries 
in the smaller towns and rural communities. 



VII. State Educational Institutions. 

By constitutional enactment and by fact, our higher state 
educational institutions are both our pride and our hope. We 
are glad to record our faith in their management, our confidence 
in their leadership and our reliance upon their effectiveness. 

Any expression of activity in our life as a commonwealth, 
whether social, commercial or moral, has a vital relation to the 
ideals of our entire educational organization. We believe npt 
only in bringing the people of the state to our educational in- 
stitutions, but also in bringing the best in our institutions 
directly to the people of the state. To this end we commend 
the State University, the State Normal School and the State 
Agricultural College for maintaining high standards of scholar- 
ship, and for their direct helpfulness, through their respective 
extension departments, to all the people of the state. 

VIII. A Direct Tax for State Institutions. 

In order that the maintenance of our state educational insti- 
tutions may be adequate, permanent and removed from the plane 
of mere local or partisan manipulation, we favor the enactment 
of a law providing for a direct tax for the support of these in- 
stitutions. 

IX. Nontax-supported Institutions. 

We offer to the independent, or nontax-supported educational 
institutions of our state our genuine appreciation of the work 
they are doing, and we recognize their cooperation in bringing to 
the state effective scholarship and capable citizenship. 

These institutions have done pioneer work in education in 
Kansas such as other institutions could not have accomplished, 
and we appreciate the fact that they are to-day so effectively 
filling a place which the other institutions of the state do not fill. 

X. Experts for County and State Superintendents. 

We believe that the only proper test that should govern in the 
selection of the state superintendent of public instruction and of 
the county superintendent of public instruction is that of edu- 
cational qualification. We therefore favor a constitutional 
amendment that will take the office of state superintendent and 
county superintendent out of politics and make it possible for 
the state of Kansas and for the various counties of the state to 
secure persons best qualified for these positions without regard 
to the section of the country from which they may come. 



8 

XI. Salary of State Superintendent. 

We recommend that provision be made for such an increase 
in the salary of the state superintendent of public instruction 
that, following the precedents established in New York, Massa- 
chusetts and New Jersey, the salary paid in Kansas may be such 
that it will be commensurate with the character of the con- 
structive work required of the head of the state department of 
education. 

XII. A Commission to Codify School Laws. 

The school laws of our state .represent the history of our edu 
cational development. These laws were passed as sentimenl 
changed and new needs made themselves felt. As a result, these 
laws are in many instances conflicting, weak and inefficient 
We therefore favor the passage of a resolution by the next 
legislature providing for the appointment of an educational 
commission, whose duty it shall be to investigate and study the 
needs of our public-school system and to codify the present 
school laws and report the same to the legislature of 1915. This 
resolution should further provide for an appropriation sufficienl 
to meet the expenses of such a commission. 

XIII. Revision of Uniform Textbook Law. 

While we believe in the principle of state uniformity of text 
books, we recognize the serious defects in our present textbook 
law. However, we believe that changes should be made only 
after the most careful and painstaking investigation by persons 
whose integrity and standing are such that their conclusions 
will command universal respect. We therefore favor the ap- 
pointment of a commission, with adequate provision for its ex- 
penses, the commission to be composed of business and educa- 
tional experts, whose duty it shall be to make a most complete 
and exhaustive study of the textbook situation during the next 
two years and to report its findings to the legislature of 1915. 
This will enable the legislature then to base its action upon the 
most complete and exact information that can be obtained within 
the specified time. We recommend that in the meantime no 
action be taken looking to an amendment or a repeal of our 
present textbook law. 

XIV. The County as a Unit of School Organization and 
Management. 

We recommend that the present system of school organiza- 
tion, with the district as a unit, be abolished, and that the 
county be made the unit for purposes of organization, taxation 



9 

and management, but reserving to cities of the first and second 
class their present system of city organization. Such a system 
will make it possible for each rural school in a county to enjoy 
educational advantages equal to those of every other rural school 
in the county, and will also make it possible for our rural 
schools to enjoy a standard of efficiency equal to that now en 
joyed by our city schools. 

XV. Reorganization of System of Normal Institutes 

We believe that the present system of normal institutes filled 
a need existing at the time the system was created. - This need 
was a need for academic training on the part of persons pro 
posing to teach. 

Owing, to the enormous increase in high schools and othej 
means for academic training, this need for the normal institutes 
does not now exist, but there does exist a need for professional 
training. We therefore recommend such changes in our law for 
normal institutes as will abolish the present system of four 
week institutes devoted to academic work, and will substitute a 
system of one-week institutes devoted to professional work. 

XVI. Free Tuition in High Schools. 

In order to extend to every boy and girl in Kansas the widei 
opportunity of. a high-school training, we believe that our entirt 
body of laws relating to the high schools should be revised and 
systematized, to the end that the burdens of taxation shall b< 
apportioned justly and in such a way that every boy and girl 
in Kansas may have this opportunity without payment of tui 
fion fee. 

XVII. Accrediting of the Public Schools 

We believe the state department of education should have tht 
power by law to accredit the public schools of the state, and that 
the graduates of the common schools so accredited should be 
admitted without examination. to any high school, and that the 
graduates of any high school so accredited should be admitted 
without examination to any higher educational institution of the 
state. 

XVIII. Secondary Certificates. 

We approve the recent legislation of our state with regard to 
he qualifications of teachers, and recommend a reasonable and 
satisfactory plan for the certification of teachers, which will 
discriminate between the qualifications of high-school teacher? 
ind those of teachers in the elementary grades. 



io 

XIX. Standardization op Rural Schools. 

We heartily indorse the policy adopted by the last legislature 
to extend aid to weak school districts, to the end that at least 
seven months of school may be maintained in every school dis- 
trict in the state. We also believe in recognizing and in en- 
couraging a high standard of efficiency, and therefore recom- 
mend that state aid to the amount of $50 be granted each year 
to each rural school that shall reach such a standard as to build- 
ings, equipment, surroundings, teacher and general efficiency as 
may be prescribed by the State Board of Education. 

XX. Supervisor op Rural Schools. 

Realizing that the rural schools are a most important branch 
,of our educational service and that they are greatly in need of 
more definite and direct help, we favor a law providing for the 
services of an expert in rural-school work, under the direction 
<>f the state department of education, whose duty it shall be to 
devote his entire time to the supervision and standardization of 
the work of the rural schools of Kansas. 

XXL Auxiliary Education. 

We recommend that the school work in the Industrial Schools 
for delinquent boys and girls, in the Reformatory, in the School 
for the Deaf, in the School for the Blind, and in the School for 
Feeble-minded Children, be placed under the administration and 
supervision of the state department of education, in the same 
manner as other schools of the state. 

XXII. Legislative Committee. 

We approve the recommendation of the Association last year 
in "the appointment of a legislative committee for two years, 
which shall consist of ten members, five of whom shall be ap- 
pointed by the chairman of the present meeting, to hold office 
for two years from the present date, and five to be appointed by 
the chairman of the next annual meeting, to hold office for two 
years, and thereafter five members to be appointed at each an- 
nual meeting." 

For the expense of this committee this year we recommend 
that $375 be appropriated from the funds of the Association, of 
which amount $125 shall be set aside for expense incurred in a 
study of problems looking toward legislation bearing directly on 
rural schools. 



1 1 



XXIIT. Superintendent E. T. Fairchild. 

The members of this Association hereby express their hearty 
appreciation of the educational progress made under the able 
leadership of State Superintendent E. T. Fairchild. His work 
will mark an epoch in the history of education in this state. We 
rejoice in the honor that has come to Kansas in his election as 
president of the National Education Association, and we feel 
a deep sense of pride in his well-earned recognition as a leader 
in the cause of our rural schools. As he goes from us to a new 
field of endeavor, we wish him Godspeed, and bespeak for him a 
warm place in the hearts of the teachers of New Hampshire. 

XXIV. Appreciation. 

We desire Lo express our cordial appreciation to the .official 
representatives of the city of Topeka for their unselfish and 
successful efforts that have contributed so largely to the success 
of this anniversary meeting'. 

W. S. HEUSNER, Chairman. 

0. G. MARKHAM. 

Etta Joe McCOY, 

E. L. HOLTON. 

E. B. GIFT, 

H. S. MARTIN, 

Committee on Resolutions jor State Teacher*' 
. Association, November, 1912. 



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